South Melbourne Primary School is as much a landmark as it is a local school. Opened for the 2018 school year, it was Victoria's first bespoke vertical government primary school, designed by Melbourne architects Hayball on a half-hectare site that would never have fitted a conventional single-storey layout. The building rises six storeys and was designed to serve more than 525 students, a response to rapid population growth in South Melbourne and Southbank. Instead of a corridor of standard classrooms, the school is arranged around what its designers call learning neighbourhood areas, along with shared kitchens, studios, reading lounges and a vertical piazza that connects the levels. There's an outdoor play area on level five and indoor and outdoor sports facilities lower down, with a food hub and video conferencing rooms also built into the design. The school shares its site with wider community infrastructure, including an early learning centre and the South Melbourne Maternal and Child Health Centre, reflecting a deliberate push to combine education and family services under one roof. The design was recognised early, picking up Future Project of the Year at the World Architecture Festival before it had even opened, and later a Ministerial Commendation for Best Example of Inclusive Design at the Victorian School Design Awards. For families in the area, it functions as the local zoned primary school for Prep to Year 6, with enrolment enquiries handled through the school office on Ferrars Street.